8897826108,8985894254

akellaraghavendra@gmail.com
kkk

Target Prelims Special Material

28-02-2024 1.
We are now active in Telegram. Click on above telegram logo and join in

Ancient India

Rulers of Ancient India

Maurya Dynasty
ASHOKA
✓ Ashoka the Great (r. 268-232 BCE) was the third king of the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE) best known

for his renunciation of war, development of the concept of dhamma (pious social conduct), and promotion
of Buddhism as well as his effective reign of a nearly panIndian political entity.

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

✓ At its height, under Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire stretched from modern-day Iran through almost the
entirety of the Indian subcontinent.
✓ Ashoka was able to rule this vast empire initially through the precepts of the political treatise known as
the Arthashastra, attributed to the Prime Minister Chanakya (also known as Kautilya and Vishnugupta, 350-
275 BCE) who served under Ashoka’s grandfather Chandragupta (321-297 BCE) who founded the empire.

Gupta’s Dynasty
Samudragupta
✓ Samudragupta (r. 335/336–375 CE) was the second emperor
of Ancient India’s Gupta Empire and one of the greatest rulers in
Indian history.
✓ He greatly expanded his dynasty’s political and military power
as the son of Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the Licchavi
princess Kumaradevi. His conquests laid the groundwork for the
expansion of the Gupta Empire, a period dubbed the “Golden
Age of India” by oriental historians.

✓ The Allahabad Pillar inscription, a prashasti (eulogy) written by his courtier Harishena, credits him with
numerous military victories. It implies that he defeated several northern Indian kings and annexed their
territories to his empire.
✓ He also marched along India’s south-eastern coast, reaching the Pallava kingdom. He also subjugated a
number of frontier kingdoms and tribal oligarchies.

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

✓ His empire stretched from the Ravi River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east, and from the
Himalayan foothills in the north to central India in the south-west; his tributaries included several rulers
along the south-eastern coast.
✓ To demonstrate his imperial sovereignty, Samudragupta performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice and,
according to his coins, remained undefeated.
✓ His gold coins and inscriptions indicate that he was a talented poet who also played music. His son
Chandragupta II carried on his father’s expansionist policies.

Harsha’s Dynasty
Harshavardhana
✓ In 590 AD, Harshavardhana was born to King Prabhakaravardhana of Sthaneshwar (Thanesar, Haryana).

✓ He was a Pushyabhuti, commonly known as the Vardhana dynasty.

✓ He was a Hindu who converted to Mahayana Buddhism.

✓ Durgavati was his wife.

✓ He has two boys and a daughter. His daughter married a Vallabhi monarch, but his sons were murdered
by his own minister.
✓ Following the death of Prabhakara Vardhana, his elder son Rajyavardhana came to the throne.

✓ Harsha had a sister named Rajyashri, who was married to Kannauj’s King Grahavarman.

✓ The Gauda monarch, Sasanka, slew Grahavarman and imprisoned Rajyashri.

✓ This compelled Rajyavardhana to confront Sasanka. However, Sasanka murdered Rajyavardhana.

✓ This resulted in Harshavardhana, a 16-year-old, ascending to Thanesar’s throne in 606 AD.

✓ He promised to avenge his brother’s death while also saving his sister.

✓ For this, he formed an alliance with Kamarupa King Bhaskaravarman. Harsha and Bhaskaravarman go
out to confront Sasanka. Sasanka eventually fled for Bengal, and Harsha became the ruler of Kannauj as
well.

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

✓ The Harshacharita, a prose biography authored by Banabhatta, court poet of King Harshavardhana, and
the chronicle of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang are two primary sources of knowledge about the
Pushyabhuti kingdom.
✓ In his writings, Chinese Buddhist traveller Xuanzang commended King Harshavardhana’s actions.

Krishna Deva Raya

✓ He was a member of the Tuluva Dynasty and was Vijayanagara Empire’s emperor from 1509 to 1529.

✓ Krishna Deva Raya was also known as Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana, Andhra Bhoja, and Mooru Rayara
Ganda.

✓ The great south Indian mathematician Nilakantha Somayaji also lived in Krishna Devaraya’s Empire.

✓ During his reign, Portuguese travellers Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz also visited the Vijayanagara
Empire.

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

 Medieval India

Famous Monuments of Delhi Sultans

Tuglaqabad Fort

• The Tughlaqabad Palace Complex and Fort lies in ruins today, but it was once a magnificent site in

Southern Delhi and the first capital of the Tughlaq

Dynasty.
• The structures were built on an elevated area and an
artificial lake from a dam sat below.
• It was built by the first Tughlaq Sultan of Delhi,
Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq circa 1320 CE.
• The palace was surrounded by walls that increased in
height the closer they got to the citadel.
• The citadel or fort itself was surrounded by a total of three walls.
• The palace complex had approximately 13 gates, 10 of which were main gates.

Lodi Gardens
• Lodi Gardens is a city park situated in New Delhi,
India.
• Spread over 90 acres (360,000 m2), it contains
Mohammed Shah’s Tomb, the Tomb of Sikandar Lodi,
the Shisha Gumbad and the Bara Gumbad, architectural
works of the 15th century by Lodis – who ruled parts of
northern India and Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province of modern-day Pakistan, from 1451 to 1526.
• The site is now protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Qutab Minar
• The Qutb Minar Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is dominated by the early thirteenth century
stone tower that rises over the horizon.
• It was previously part of the Tomar Rajput rulers’ of Lal Kot, Delhi’s earliest urban complex.
• Following Mahmud of Ghazni’s conquest of Prithviraj Chauhan, the Turk rulers of Delhi built the
monuments that may still be seen today.

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

• Qutbuddin Aibak started the Qutb Minar, but only saw the first story completed during his lifetime.
• The Qutub as it stands now is the product of additions made by his successor Iltutmish and later Firoz
Shah Tughlaq.
• In the sixteenth century, Sikandar Lodi made
renovations to the building as well.
• The British attempted to rebuild a fallen cupola, but it
was seen to be too out of character with the rest of the
minaret and was dismantled, becoming part of the
complex.
• The complex also includes the magnificent Iron Pillar,
the incomplete Alai Minar, and the mausoleum of Iltutmish.

Fatehpur Sikri
• Fatehpur Sikri is located in Agra district of Uttar Pradesh.

• The city was founded by Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1571

as the capital of the Mughal Empire.
• The name of the city can be translated to the ‘City of
Victory’ and was named so after Akbar’s successful
campaign of Gujarat, the famous Buland Darwaza was also
built in honor of the same occasion.

Modern India

Pitts India Act 1784

The Pitt’s India Act (1784), which is named after the British prime minister William Pitt the Younger,
established the dual system of control between the British
government and the East India Company.
Under this system, the company retained control over trade and
day-to-day operations, however crucial political decisions were left
to a private committee of three directors who were in constant
communication with the British government. This system lasted
until 1858. Pitts India Act 1784 was passed to rectify the defects of the Regulating Act 1773. The Pitt’s India
Act 1784 also known as the East India Company Act 1784 was enacted by the British Parliament by placing

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

the East India Company’s administration in India under British control. The act was passed during the
tenure of William Pitt the younger in 1784.

Historical Background
• After regulating Act 1773, in 1781, the Company’s affairs were investigated by both a Select and a Secret

Committee including Supreme Court’s relationship with the Bengal Council.

• The causes of the Maratha War (1775–82,1803–05, 1817–18) were investigated by the Secret
Committee. The Company’s Directors admitted that the war had beggared them and sought the State for
another million-pound loan.
• Pitt’s India Act established a system in which the British East India Company and the British government
shared control of India. These transformations lasted until 1858.

The Pitts India Act 1784 – Objective

Pitt's India Act aimed to overcome the deficiencies of the 1773 Regulating Act by placing the East India
Company under British government supervision in India.

Pitts India Act, 1784 – Key Provisions

• The Pitt's India Act of 1784 separated the East India Company's political and corporate activities.
• Only the Company's public affairs and administration in India were subjected to increased government
monitoring. The Board of Control was formed to help the
same.
• This Board of Control's members are:
* The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
* The Secretary of State, and
* Four Privy Councilors are among the six
officials appointed by the King.
• The Secretary of State was appointed as the Board of
Control's President.

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108

• The Company was represented by the Court of Directors, and the British government was represented
by the Board of Control, in this dual system of control.
• The statute required all civil and military officers to declare their assets in India and the United Kingdom

within two months of joining.

• The number of members on the Governor-council General's has been decreased to three. The
Commander-in-Chief of the British Crown's army in India would be one of the three.
• The Governor-General was granted veto power.
• Madras and Bombay presidencies became subservient to the Bengal Presidency. Calcutta effectively
became the capital of the British Indian colonies.

click on the below logo(s) to get more from e-Gurukulam:

e-Gurukulam for
AP TS Enrich Exams Motivational Mantra IAS Foundation IAS

Akella Raghavendra’s e-Gurukulam for IAS 8897826108